Comments on: Cultural Relativism, Columbus, and Darfur

By: lunacy

lunacy — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:31:28 +0000

What color are the folks in Kosovo?

By: C.Wagener

C.Wagener — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:08:18 +0000

Gosh, if we just focused on killing white people I'd sure feel better about ourselves. And by the way, the folks in Iraq are caucasians (and Bosnians are too).

If you don't agree with me your all brown skin killin', worse than Hilter bastards.

By: bob in fl

bob in fl — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:26:57 +0000

"his culture, however, was in many ways inferior to our own." Really? His culture preached peace & forgiveness to others while killing & enslaving darker skinned people. Our culture has not fought a war against other caucasians since WW II. also... -------------------------------------------------- "Remember, Chris did not start out to conquer, but to merely find a short cut to India and access to the spice trade." Nevertheless, when he got there, he killed, enslaved, & conquered. His intent means nothing; his actions reflect his morality. The Iraq war is also a "shortcut to profits", with the same results. Sudan , seems to me, is a variation of the same theme. -------------------------------------------------- "But one does have to ask whether a society which is better than another on one point is worse than that society on others (not so much for the sake of saying everyone's equally bad, but for finding ways of improving oneself and one's society)." Thank you, Micah. Societal values are but a collection of individual values combined. Another thing we need to remember is that our values are not what we think they are but are how we act. Self evaluation needs to look not at our beliefs, but at our actions instead. Our cultural actions are in some ways no better than those of Spain & Columbus of the 15th century. Just the fact that we celebrate Columbus Day reveals our true morality.

By: AllenS

AllenS — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 10:52:24 +0000

Remember, Chris did not start out to conquer, but to merely find a short cut to India and access to the spice trade.

By: Micah Tillman

Micah Tillman — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 22:15:54 +0000

"his culture, however, was in many ways inferior to our own."

What?! Someone dared to say it?

Relativism is just moral democracy, with no tallying of the votes. I'm surprised that someone would be so devoted to democracy that they'd be willing to found their morality on it.

But one does have to ask whether a society which is better than another on one point is worse than that society on others (not so much for the sake of saying everyone's equally bad, but for finding ways of improving oneself and one's society).